Before he needed to undergo Tommy John surgery a couple seasons ago, Dustin May was quickly becoming one of the filthier pitchers in baseball. He returned to action in the second half of last season, but it’s clear that May is back to being himself on the mound. That’s terrible news for hitters.
His incredible two-seamer/sinker is a huge reason why.
May was dominant in his start on Saturday against the Padres, going six innings of scoreless baseball. The Dodgers starter only allowed three hits and struck out six Padres batters on the day. But really, it takes some unbelievable movement to have a hitter like Juan Soto look completely fooled. May did exactly that in the first inning.
Dustin May, Ridiculous 99mph Two Seamers. 😳
21 inches and 23 inches of run. pic.twitter.com/uDHGfac84n
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 7, 2023
May struck out Soto on a 99 mph sinker (called two-seamer in the tweet, but sinker by MLB) that Soto thought was heading inside. Instead, the pitch broke 22 inches to the middle of the zone. During Ha-Seong Kim’s at-bat, May had him so fooled that Kim started to take first base on a pitch that broke into the heart of the zone.
It happened twice with Kim striking out on a similar pitch.
This is how much May's two seamer moves.
Kim thought he walked on both of these (3 ball count)…and look how much of the zone these catch. pic.twitter.com/GZCQdC5wlb
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) May 7, 2023
I can only imagine what that movement looks like from the hitter’s perspective, but it can’t be fun.
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This was how Twitter reacted
how did he do this https://t.co/rkvK04excX
— meg (@VelocitybyVolpe) May 7, 2023
As someone who has played baseball their entire life… HOW DO YOU HIT THIS https://t.co/gdoJEN4PIK
— Viddles (@CVitale85) May 7, 2023
You can’t get a pitch move like this in the literal video game sheeeeesh https://t.co/dXgfEBszPR
— 🈶 (@_eldergoose_) May 7, 2023
He’s throwing a Wiffle Ball out there! https://t.co/eTWndcMtZC
— John Brophy (@jbrophybaseball) May 7, 2023
I’ve watched this 100 times https://t.co/xF6pgmEPzz
— Jack (@jack_r25) May 7, 2023
This is wild https://t.co/6XsuLVrKtq
— Mike Shabareck (@El_Shabs) May 7, 2023
That first pitch just isn’t real lmao https://t.co/hVSUnT46y7
— Matt (@BelowAverageOPS) May 7, 2023
bro is legit throwing a blitz ball https://t.co/rOd0tSVJrk
— Caleb Rosario🇵🇷 (@CalebRosario8) May 7, 2023
in the 1600s they would have burned this man at the stake https://t.co/BM1vhs61nk
— steven h (@steven_harrwell) May 7, 2023
Ummmm… 😱!! No chance anyone is hitting that https://t.co/nXxROpjBPK
— Coach Adams (@SpenserAdams) May 7, 2023
Seriously how do people hit this https://t.co/x82XGSxSyM
— Derek Wagner (@djwagss) May 7, 2023
GINGERGAARD 🔥 https://t.co/f8X0U8Kv2F
— Nick @ Ethersport (@nmitchell11) May 7, 2023
It really doesn’t seem fair.
